The Duggar family has not openly advocated for any of the Republican presidential candidates this year. However, prior to the Josh Duggar pornography and affair scandal, the family showed support for one of the current GOP front-runners, Senator Ted Cruz. Josh Duggar even posted a selfie with Cruz just before the Duggar family scandal, in which he noted that Cruz is a great candidate who “supports advancing faith, family and freedom!” Although the family has backed away from supporting any presidential candidates for the time being, likely due to the scandal surrounding the family and damage it could do to the candidate, Duggar family friends with Gothard ties are doing the work for them.

The Bontrager family, Duggar family friends, and a group of Christian entertainers are openly supporting Ted Cruz following his pledge to do away with the Department of Education, which the Bontragers, and likely the Duggar family, would fully support since they are homeschooling advocates. In fact, the Bontrager family says that Cruz is the first candidate in their adult life who they are “fired up” to support.

Raw Story reports that the Bontrager family, friends of the Duggars, and a Christian gospel singing group are openly and vigorously supporting Senator Ted Cruz’s campaign for the presidency. Bontrager patriarch Marlin Bontrager is one of three national chairmen for the Homeschoolers for Cruz coalition, and he says that Ted Cruz is the first presidential candidate from his adult life that he is “fired up” to support.

“This is the first time ever in my adult life that we’ve had a candidate that I’m fired up about.”

He notes that as a homeschooling father, he feels Cruz is the best to take over the position as the president because he supports parents’ right to choose to educate their children as they see fit. Bontrager notes that the right to educate a child at home is important and that Cruz proves he believes “religious liberty and protecting the constitution” are top priorities and the “foremost” concerns for his candidacy.

“As a homeschooling father of 10 and the leader in my home, it is vitally important to me that we have a president who is concerned first and foremost about religious liberty and protecting the constitution,” Bontrager said. “Within that is included the rights that we need to have as parents to be able to choose what education we desire for our children.”

The Bontragers have posted numerous posts on their family blog advocating for Christians to vote for Ted Cruz. One post describes Cruz as a “born-again Christian who loves the Lord and is not ashamed of his faith.” The Bontragers take a jab at Donald Trump by noting that they do not want a president who does not “bend his knee” at the beginning of each day and that they need a president, like Ted Cruz, who will “call for national repentance and a returning to the Lord.”

“We need as President a man who recognizes our nation’s sin against Almighty God and who calls for national repentance and a returning to the Lord. We need more than a candidate who promises to ‘make America great again;’ we need a candidate who will lead the nation in righteousness. Ted Cruz has said that ‘any President who does not begin every day on his knees is not fit to be commander-in-chief of this country.’ This is the type of man we need as our next President.”

With the Bontrager family calling the Duggars “dear friends” and sharing numerous speaking engagements together as well as roots within the Gothard religion, it would not be a stretch to believe that the Duggars also support Senator Ted Cruz for president but are currently remaining quiet on the matter as the family has experienced numerous scandals in 2015 that could potentially hurt whichever candidate they endorse. Therefore, they likely won’t endorse any candidate but will likely be taking to the voting booth to vote for Cruz.

Although the Duggars aren’t openly endorsing Cruz, we know that the family is familiar with Cruz and endorses his placement on the “importance of advancing faith, family and freedom.” Josh Duggar posted an image to Instagram after meeting with Senator Ted Cruz just before the family’s series of scandals. In the Instagram post, Josh praises the senator for “always conveying his passion for America” as the pair smile side by side.

A photo posted by Josh Duggar (@joshduggar) on May 6, 2015 at 10:50am PDT

What do you think about the Duggar family friends open support of Senator Ted Cruz? Do you think the Duggar family will come out and openly support Cruz, or will they remain quiet as the fear of their family’s series of scandals could potentially hurt the candidate they endorse? Let us know you thoughts in the comments section below.